Speak the Same Language with Our OT Glossary eBook

Modern operations no longer live in separate worlds. As industrial systems become more connected and data-driven, the line between IT and OT keeps fading. But one thing remains constant: teams cannot collaborate if they don’t share the same vocabulary. 

This eBook fixes that. 

Connected factories, sensors, and control systems now depend on IT infrastructure. To operate safely and efficiently, you need shared definitions across roles, not just new tools. That starts with a common glossary and a consistent way to talk about standards, security, reliability, and flow.

In a concise, but thorough format, the OT Glossary translates essential OT concepts into clear, practical language that both OT and IT pros can use, so projects move faster and risks go down.

What’s Inside the eBook?

1) Standards and frameworks you will actually use

A fast tour of the foundations that help IT and OT align. You will find clear introductions to ISA-95 for enterprise to shop-floor integration, IEC 62443 for industrial cybersecurity, and ISO 9001 for quality management. Each term includes why it matters, the benefits, and where it shows up in real projects.

2) The ITSM terms that OT teams need to know

If your work touches tickets, changes, or incidents, this section helps. It covers CMDB and configuration items, event and incident management, the role of the service desk, and how SLAs differ in IT versus OT, where uptime requirements are often stricter.

3) Manufacturing and production concepts that drive flow

From Lean principles and Value Stream Mapping to bottlenecks, cycle time, and flow, the glossary explains how to spot constraints and speed throughput. It also covers Jidoka and Andon for quality at the source, plus Poka-Yoke for mistake-proofing.

4) Security and cybersecurity (hold the jargon)

The book starts with core ideas like attack surface and cybersecurity, then moves into practical defenses such as firewalls and intrusion detection. You will also find ransomware explained in plain language, network segmentation as a containment strategy, Zero Trust as a guiding model, and Smart Grid as a modern energy example.

5) Hardware, systems, and the software that connects them all

Need to level-set on PLCs and RTUs, or explain Ladder Logic to a cross-functional team? Curious how ERP, MES, and Digital Twins fit together from planning to the line? This section outlines definitions, benefits, and everyday applications that you can reference in meetings.

6) Quality and continuous improvement

Learn how to frame improvement work with CTQs, COPQ, and DPMO. The glossary connects these measures to practical actions that cut waste and raise quality.

Who Will Benefit?
  • Plant and operations leaders who want faster issue resolution and better throughput
  • Security and risk teams that need shared language for controls and response
  • IT service and platform owners who support OT environments with SLAs and change control
  • Engineers and analysts who translate between business, systems, and the shop floor

How Your Teams Can Use It Today
  • Add key terms to onboarding for cross-functional hires.
  • Use the definitions in discovery workshops, design reviews, and incident postmortems.
  • Align SLAs and change processes across IT and OT using common ITSM terms.
  • Build a shared checklist for controls and segmentation with the security section.
  • See how Lean, VSM, bottlenecks, cycle time, and flow show where you are stuck and how to restore movement.
  • Understand how Firewalls, IDS, segmentation, Zero Trust, and ransomware make modern threats and defenses understandable to non-security specialists.
  • Learn why PLCs, RTUs, ERP, MES, and Digital Twins connect the dots from planning to execution to performance.

Get the eBook

If you want smoother handoffs, fewer miscommunications, and faster time to value, start by aligning on language. Download the eBook and give your teams a shared foundation for projects, reliability, and security.

Download the OT Glossary today!